Gods and Men- The Hank Boyd Omnibus, page 68
part #1 of Gods and Men Series
Enki first encountered resistance when a simple shepherd boy named David, defeated the giant Philistine from Gath, Goliath. He rose up and slew the massive bear of a man with a simple sling and stone. Mankind wasn’t as feeble as Enki had first thought.
Later came similar men, including William Wallace and Leonidas, King of Sparta. Each defied an enemy in their own way, inspiring, even more, men to do the same.
Even others became mankind’s gold standard of excellence. Jesus Christ, Moses, and Buddha, they all influenced many men over the millennia. Some had extraordinary abilities that not even Enki could dispute. They preached peace and civility, combining it with love and understanding.
They still influence men now, he thought, sneering. He’d have to undo it all once Boyd arrived in the Citadel. He would erase all that man had built and start anew. Eridu would be the world’s greatest beacon to himself—to God.
He continued forward, barely clearing the ten-foot ceilings. If he’d grown any taller after his…awakening…he would have had to stoop down.
It was the only thing in his long life that he couldn’t recall. It was a necessary event, though. The first of many. He needed a human host to connect their species, meshing his mind with that of a man. He was actually impressed when he first linked to the collective that could be the hive mind of humanity.
All they’d have to do is unlock the pieces of their minds.
It’s how he spoke to his followers and Thoth before them. Once they allowed him access to their minds, he could unlock what was missing in order for them to use them correctly. They had been initially taught their abilities by their father, but Enki truly gave them the gift of controlling it to the fullest.
Boyd will be next.
The human’s power was most definitely impressive. Based on how he just defeated Susanoo and before that Nannot and Coaxoch, Enki believed that Boyd may be his stiffest competition yet. What makes the man so intriguing is his selflessness. Even as Enki made his way back to meet him, Boyd did the same, knowingly marching to his death. Enki could feel Boyd’s will pushing on the earth around them. It was this feeling of hope that Enki needed to erase before the roots set.
Boyd cannot be allowed to believe he has a chance.
A scream enveloped Enki’s mind as he leaned on the wall nearest to him. It wasn’t from anywhere close by, but that of one of his mitutu. They’d apparently met conflict in the tunnels above. This one died, struck in the chest by something small, but effective.
He laughed again.
They’d also found their first real meal in centuries.
34
The Kur
“Fire!” Kane yelled, opening up into the first wave of whatever the hell was down there. All he knew was that if it wasn’t Hank, you shoot it. And these weren’t his friends. He didn’t know what the hell they were actually.
He put two rounds in the chest of the closest one and watched it fall dead. They were kind of human looking but looked almost zombie-like in appearance.
Sure as hell don’t move like zombies.
Some ran on all fours like primates, others ran like Olympic sprinters. He unloaded into one as it scurried across the right-hand wall. Some others did that too.
What Kane did know was they were apparently some sort of security measure. That was plain to see. But how did the master know they were here? It didn’t matter regardless. The answer to that riddle could wait. They were here, and that was that. Now, they just needed to survive and push forward.
More clicking and popping erupted around him as the group continued firing off round after round of whispered gunfire. It was a standard setup for Special Forces teams like this. It was also a blessing considering they were in the tight confines of the stone corridors. If their weapons weren’t rigged with silencers, they’d all be deaf.
Silencers…stupid movies. There wasn’t any such thing. You could only suppress the sound of gunfire. You couldn’t completely silence it.
He yelled a command to stop after the last body hit the floor, standing from his crouched position as he did. At least a dozen bodies covered a stretch of stone in front of them, but something about it made no sense.
“No blood,” one of the men said.
“Nope,” Kane added. “None at all.”
“What are they?” Nicole asked, stepping up next to him.
He shook his head, peering further down the tunnel. “Don’t know and don’t care. The history stuff can wait. We have a job to do.”
He didn’t mean to be harsh with Nicole, but he knew she’d agree. Archaeology officially took a backseat to what they were doing now. There weren’t history majors here. This group of ten, Nicole included, was a lethal killing machine until further notice.
“Kill them all,” Kane said, stepping forward.
The corridor was ten-by-ten, making it easy to move side-by-side. He and Nicole were up front with another on Nicole’s left, weapons forward and ready to go again if needed. Kane knew they’d be needed. That was just too damn easy.
Then again, he thought, they didn’t have this kind of firepower back in the day.
Unfortunately for Kane, he also knew how people thought back then, seeing some of it firsthand in Algeria and later in Mexico, and Florida. These people didn’t like to fight fair. They would use whatever means they could.
Which could literally be anything.
“Where are we going?” the man next to Nicole asked. His concerned tone was evident. “There are tunnels everywhere.”
Kane felt the same way. They could easily be lost down here forever. On the other hand, they needed to have a set path first to actually become lost. They had neither. Right now they were in a hellish limbo. No direction. No set goal.
“Worry about that later,” Kane replied. “Right now just keep moving and keep your eyes peeled for anything that might be a door.”
They moved further down the corridor as quietly as possible. More movement echoed off the stone around them, but nothing came for them. With the dizzying amount of side tunnels and the unknown pathways, the enemy could be only a few feet away, and they wouldn’t be able to tell.
“What’s that?” said one of the rearmost soldiers.
Or they could be right behind us.
“Dammit, Kane,” he said. “I think there’s another group coming up fast—right on our six.”
“Prepare to engage,” Kane said, still facing forward. It could still be a trap, and they needed to keep their butts guarded.
“Roger that.”
They got into position, three men kneeling, three men standing. Six of the best men, using six of the best weapons. Once they were ready, everything went silent. The underground atmosphere gave it a stillness that could drive a man insane over time. It’s amazing what something as simple as the quiet-calm could do to someone’s mentality.
“Davey,” Kane whispered, never looking back, “You stay with us and guard our new rears. I don’t want to get one of these things sneaking up our butts.
“Got it,” Davey replied, swinging his rifle back around.
“Contact,” someone said, “coming in hot.”
Kane chanced his first look, immediately wishing he hadn’t. The stone corridor was alive with these things. There were more heads and limbs—more than he could count. Every single one of them looked to be emaciated and vying for position at the front of the pack, glowing green in his night vision.
“Shit,” another man said.
Kane waited another breath and then gave the order. All six men let loose with controlled bursts until their mags ran dry. Each one of them was replaced by another soldier with a fresh one. Dozens of rounds were sent flying into the wall of incoming bodies, but when one was killed—like how the soldiers replaced their own with another—the mitutu also replaced their own.
“There’s too many.”
Kane agreed. “Fall back, but keep firing.”
Like a well-oiled machine, the soldiers moved. They piggy-backed each other, carefully walking backward. Like before, they’d replace one of their ranks while the other reloaded, but now only three were firing at a time instead of six.
Half the firepower, Kane thought.
“Eh, screw this,” Kane said. “Run!”
On cue, everyone turned and followed Kane as he zigged and zagged into whatever random tunnel he could find. The only constant was that he tried to keep moving in one general direction, hoping to run into the central portion of this place.
If there was one.
They’d lost contact with Hank and could have really used his intel right about now. That is…if he was alive. Kane and Nicole still held out hope, though. They knew, without a shadow of a doubt, it would take a hell of a lot more to take Hank down than just a fall. Even if he was in the hands of this master joker… They had confidence in his ability to come out on top.
“Holy hell!” someone yelled from the back. “We just lost two men!”
“Keep moving!” Kane shouted back. If they could get far enough away, they’d be able to regroup.
He ducked down another corridor to the right, following it for thirty feet, going left shortly after. He heard several sets of booted feet trail him and trusted them to not get lost in a place twice as bad as the Atlantean necropolis. At least you had room to maneuver there. The tight confines and what seemed like an unlimited number of enemies made their current situation all but hopeless.
“I’ve got an idea,” Davey said, stopping. He pulled twin canisters from his combat vest and pulled their pins. As the last of their team ran past him, he tossed both cylinders back the way they came and turned and ran. “Flash out!”
“Find a side tunnel!” Kane yelled and dove left, Nicole right on his heels.
As he landed, he covered his ears and opened his mouth, doing what he could to negate the punch of the flashbang grenades. It didn’t help much as the twin canisters exploded into two balls of light. Immediately following each quick burst, he heard screeching and next…gunfire.
He peeked around the corner and watched as one after the other, each soldier came out of hiding and started their assaults back up anew. But this time, the enemy wasn’t so ferocious.
They were sprawled all over the floor, making headshots easy, and ammo easy to conserve. Kane and Nicole joined in, and soon every one of the things was down and very much dead.
“Still no blood,” Davey said again. “Not even from headshots.”
Kane just turned and walked away, flopping to the ground. He sat back against the wall and closed his eyes, breathing deep. Through his heavy breaths, he heard a body hit the ground next to him.
“What are you thinking?” Nicole asked.
“I’m thinking…that this may be…a lost cause.”
She was about to say something, but he cut her off.
“But,” he held up a hand, “that doesn’t mean I’m going to give up.”
She nodded and sat back with him, checking her ammo supply.
“Thank God we brought those extra mags, Kane.”
Davey sat across from him, reloading another fresh one.
“Told you so,” Kane said. “I won’t make that mistake again.”
Nicole nodded, agreeing.
“What’s that?” Davey asked.
“Nothing,” Kane said quickly, “never mind.”
“Company stuff…right.”
Thankfully for Kane, Davey was a world-class shooter and a highly recommended soldier. He also had experience dealing with people like Kane before. Need-to-know information was precisely that, and Davey didn’t need to know anything to fire a gun.
“Maybe someday I’ll be able to tell you,” Kane said, leaning his head against the wall.
“Just not now,” the man said, finishing Kane’s statement.
Kane just nodded and closed his eyes again.
“You feel that?” Nicole asked.
“Feel what?”
“I think it’s the wall.”
Kane held his breath and felt it. It was slight, but the stone behind him was definitely shaking. A small tremor—a vibration, but it was something. He stood, never taking his hand off the rock. He began to walk further down this particular corridor, but the sensation faded. He quickly pivoted and headed back in the same direction, stopping at one of many cross tunnels. Stepping in, he instantly felt a soft shaking under his feet.
“This way,” he said, cautiously stepping forward.
Everyone fell in line behind him, minus the two men they lost earlier. Single-file, they each walked softly, heel-to-toe, making their way forward as quietly as they could. With each successive foot covered, the ground began to shake and twitch a little more.
“Where do you think—” Nicole began to ask.
“No idea,” he quickly answered, “but we haven’t had any friends since coming this way.”
“Could be the tremors,” Davey said.
“Might be,” Kane said shrugging. “Either way, we need to be on guard and ready to roll.”
“No issues here,” Davey said, “this is what we do.”
Kane just nodded his understanding and kept moving.
They continued another hundred feet, barely being able to walk straight. It wasn’t enough to shake loose the stone around them, but it was enough to make Kane’s feet fall asleep. Eventually, they came to what looked like an opening of some sort. He held up a closed fist, telling everyone to stop. After a minute of silence, he motioned for Nicole and Davey to join him.
The three of them crept closer, holding themselves up while they moved. Each one held onto the wall nearest to them as they came upon a perfectly cut opening. They each peered inside, having to shield their night-visioned eyes from a low glow emanating from within the vast space ahead.
“Take off the headgear,” Kane said, switching his off, while Davey lifted his off his eyes.
“Is that?” Nicole asked, shocked.
“I think it is,” Kane replied. He looked off into the distance of the arena-sized room and saw a massive piece of Atlantean orichalcum hanging from the ceiling. It was beautiful as well as foreboding. Wherever this stuff existed, so did death.
Davey stepped up next and looked back-and-forth. “Is it just me, or is it a jungle in here?”
35
The Citadel
“We’re here,” Terra says, ushering me forward. She’s standing next to a perfectly cut opening the same size as the corridor we just passed through…and I could have sworn it wasn’t there a moment before.
“You open that?” I ask, stepping closer.
“No, the entrance here is automated.”
“Really?” I ask. “I didn’t expect it to be so advanced.”
She smiles. “Have you learned nothing?”
I’m not sure if it was a jab at me or not, but I get what she means. These beings—human or not—are more advanced than we are now. They may have the advancements in technology to the same level as humanity does, but their other improvements, mostly mental, are off the charts.
They’re an advanced ‘race,’ not an advanced ‘civilization.’”
The word ‘civilization’ implies that they’re human, just a more advanced group of people. And I can one-hundred-percent attest to what I’ve learned that whoever is ultimately responsible for the Citadel and the Source is not human.
I also know what that implies when it comes to Thoth and him ingesting the orichalcum… I also understand what that means when it comes to me.
I look down at my hands and feel the fire tingling under my skin. If I were to push it further, it would fully ignite. Before Algeria, I was all human. Now…I’m not so sure. If the changes did, in fact, permanently alter my DNA, then I may be more like Enki and Thoth than I’d like to think.
“Beings from another world,” I say, finally coming to terms with what this all means. “Extraterrestrial life.”
I look over to Terra. “And I’ve become one of them.”
“You make it sound like a bad thing.”
“It’s not?” I ask, surprised that she would think the other. Even she has explicitly told me she is ashamed of who she is.
“I do not regret being who I am, Mr. Boyd. I regret who I became. I could have become the same all-powerful being in the same light, but I could have used my abilities for a greater purpose. I am and will forever be Terra, a Judge of An’tala. It doesn’t mean it has to be a bad thing.”
I know what she’s trying to say. You’re allowed to be something else besides what you are. You’re allowed to change your status in life. You’re never stuck with being who you are, or in my case, you’re never stuck with being the “you” I was. I may have changed since gaining these gifts…but has it been for the better? Or the worse?
Maybe something in between.
I may not be the same Hank Boyd I was a few short months ago, but look at what I’ve accomplished in that small amount of time. I’ve saved countless lives—maybe the world…twice. I’m in an amazing relationship and have gained some wonderful new friends. None of it would have happened unless I became who I am now.
Has it really been a change for the worse? Is that what I need to accept to reach my full potential? Do I just need to accept my role in all this—accept my fate?
“Come, Hank,” Terra says, motioning me forward.
“You called me Hank again,” I say as I pass her.
She blushes a little. “You humans and your emotions. How I wish they didn’t affect me so.”
“Emotions?” I ask, stopping in front of her.
“I’m allowed to feel them,” she says, stepping up next to me. “I don’t want you to do this, you know? I did offer you a chance to save yourself.”
I nod. You don’t have to be stuck with who you are… Terra really has become one of us.
We enter the Citadel together, stepping over the threshold of where it begins, and where the Kur ends. Another symbol of crossing the brink, maybe? Like the entrance to the necropolis. We went from good to evil there too.
“Mr. Boyd!”
I train my eyes to the center of the large room and see a tall gray figure, standing over a seated one. I recognize the shiny bald head of Ben and take another step forward. He’s alive but looks terrible. He’s obviously hurt, barely being able to lean up against the square cut stone in the floor.
